Events

Save the Dates! There is a lot happening at CHSI.   

Events and Fundraising

Looking for a fun and different night out with friends?

Why not get together a table of 8 for the CHSI Bonza Trivia Night at the historic Old Castlemaine Gaol?

– Bubbles on arrival
– Delicious platters
– Trivia & local history
– Games, laughs & prizes
– Bar available

Saturday 21 November 2026 | 6pm
Old Castlemaine Gaol Precinct

Table of 8 – just $360
Individual seats – $50 each, at a table of 8 – so you can come along on your own and meet some new people!

It’s a great night to get together with friends, enjoy a few laughs and have a bit of friendly competition – and you don’t need to be a history buff!

Some tables have already sold, so ACT FAST and book now!

To book your table, click: https://events.humanitix.com/bonza-trivia-night/tickets

 

We are fund-raising for a ScanPro 3500 (see why below) and to keep our doors open.

A major purchase for major benefits

A  ScanPro 3500 will enable us to digitalise Microfilm and Microfiche, making them indexable and readily available for research. This machine comes at a considerable cost (around $20,000 to buy outright) but will be of great benefit to all researchers. A cost benefit analysis shows that having this machine at the court house is much cheaper than sending film out to be digitalised.

Clive Willman reports:” It is an impressive machine that will automatically rapidly scan both microfilm and microfiche and can export the results as text readable pdf files using OCR (Optical Character Recognition).This machine would enable CHSI to convert all our existing films into a more user-friendly, easy to navigate format.

The objective would be to progressively scan our most important film/fiche. We currently hold about 421 microfilm reels in 8 drawers, including 56 reels of Rate books, (Castlemaine, Metcalfe, Chewton, Campbells Creek) 127 reels of Castlemaine Mail newspapers. 12 reels of Castlemaine Daily News newspapers. 24 reels of The Castlemaine Representative newspapers.1 reel of Register of Residence Areas 1881 – 1935.

The approximate cost of using a commercial scanning service is $200 per reel (as of 20 Sep 2022). Therefore the cost of scanning the 219 most important reels = 219 x 200 = $43,875.00 – including output charges.”

 More information and reviews: https://e-imagedata.com/scanpro3500-overview/

The purchase has greatly assisted the Society in digitising records.  There is still some way to go to cover the purchase cost and donations large or small toward this purchase would be much appreciated.

Donations: https://www.castlemainehistoricalsociety.com/

 Tuesday Openings

Tuesday opening hours at the Former Courthouse are from 10.00 am to 3.00 pm.

During our opening hours, the Research Repository is open for “drop-in” research visitors to carry out research and make other enquiries.

Please email chsi@castlemainehistoricalsociety.com to arrange appointment for a personal visit.

 

Wednesday Meetings are the first Wednesday of each month except December, January and February at 4.00 pm.

These meetings are held at the Former Courthouse, 7 Goldsmith Crescent, Castlemaine

Our meetings feature a guest speaker followed by nibbles and drinks when visitors, members and our guest speaker can mingle and chat.

GUEST SPEAKERS  

 

Walks

Guided walks – Town, Gold Commissioner’s  Camp,  Cobb and Co., Castlemaine Sports, Cemetery, Campbells Creek can be arranged by contacting 5472 1425

Should a Code Red be declared in the North Central Fire District, then any Society activity for that day will be cancelled.

We follow all state government regulations regarding Covid-19 prevention.

MEDIA RELEASE

Castlemaine, Victoria

Date: Monday 11th May 2021

LARGEST COLLECTION OF CORNISH REFERENCE AND GENEALOGICAL MATERIAL OUTSIDE CORNWALL COMES TO CASTLEMAINE

The Cornish Association of Victoria Incorporated (CAV) today announced the transfer of its Library to the Castlemaine Historical Society.

President of the CAV, Mr. Ken Peak said: “We are delighted to publically announce the relocation and the archiving of the CAV Library material to the Castlemaine Historical Society as a stand-alone collection following an historic agreement between the two organisations.”

The CAV has for many years had a Library of materials related to Cornwall for use by its members as well as by members of the public on application. It’s a rich archive that has been cultivated over a long period of time. It is considered that it is the largest collection of Cornish reference and genealogical material in the world outside of Cornwall. The collection consists of resources in a range of formats including books, journals, magazines, maps, CD-ROMs, extracts, photocopies, pamphlets and guide booklets. The collection represents a range of topics that include Cornwall’s inhabitants, Cornish history, emigrants, mines & mining history, maritime history, education history, church history, local history, occupations, place names, archaeology, geology, reminiscences, social and family history.

In 2019 the Oakleigh Baptist Church, where the Library was housed, approached the CAV requesting church use of the area where much of the Library was housed. This was agreed to and the Library was placed in plastic tubs and stored in a shed on-site.

“Our Committee was of the view that even though we could no longer maintain the Library as it was, its resources should remain intact as one collection wherever it was to be housed and curated,” Mr. Peak said.

The CAV and the Castlemaine Historical Society entered into discussions about the relocation of the CAV Library to Castlemaine. A ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ was prepared and agreed to on May 3rd 2021.

“More than 700,000 Australians identify themselves as having Cornish heritage. Many of these folk, like me, have Cornish ancestors who worked on the Central Victorian Goldfields.

My great, great grandfather Thomas Peak worked as shift manager or mine captain at the Duke of Cornwall mine just down the road at Fryerstown in 1875, when the Rowe Brothers owned it. I am personally proud that such a collection as ours ‘comes home’, as it were, to a place where so many Cornish immigrants to this country worked on the goldfields in the 19th century and helped forge our nation,” Mr. Peak said.

The CAV is a small but vibrant association with 200+ current members that meets monthly at the Oakleigh Baptist Church Hall in Melbourne. The CAV has a regular Newsletter and information about our organisation can be found on our CAV website at: http://www.cornishvic.org.au/index.html

The Castlemaine Historical Society has agreed to archive and curate the material as well as making the former CAV material available for CAV members to peruse free of charge on appointment.

“This is an excellent outcome and we look forward to working successfully with the Castlemaine Historical Society for many years to come,” Mr. Peak concluded.

ENDS

Media Contact: Ken Peak, President CAV – 0400 309 469